"We surrender" Said the French

[BlackIronGuardian]

It's strange that people think France surrendered during the First World war.

They didn't.

They also won the Hundred Years War, remember. And the Franco-Prussian War. And the Crimean War. As for the Second World War, well, half of France surrendered and the rest was conquered. Not that the Allies on the western Front would have gotten far without the Resistance backing them.

Stereotype and misinformation.

 

[riskroWe]

The french got rushed liek n00bs in ww2, and they got rap3d by insurgency forces in southeast asia, then they wouldn't h4lp america in iraq.
Obviously they're planning a strategic invasion of Australia through a secret base in New Caledonia. They didn't get to keep their little colonies in the west, and they wuz robbed.

 

[LewsTherin]

Because America often forgets who had their back during the Revolutionary War.

 

[AWC Viper]

The french got rushed liek n00bs in ww2, and they got rap3d by insurgency forces in southeast asia, then they wouldn't h4lp america in iraq.
Obviously they're planning a strategic invasion of Australia through a secret base in New Caledonia. They didn't get to keep their little colonies in the west, and they wuz robbed.

you cant invade Australia. it's like pissing in a ocean of piss.

 

[AWC Viper]

Because America often forgets who had their back during the Revolutionary War.

by your reasoning no one should make fun of america then. because they had the Taliban's back, Osama's, the whole U.N, NATO and basically anyone who was fighting the communists/terrorists/Nazi's

 

[LewsTherin]

Because America often forgets who had their back during the Revolutionary War.

by your reasoning no one should attack america then. because they had the Taliban's back, Osama's and basically anyone who was fighting the communists

I meant it's ironic how it's mostly Americans making fun of the French, when the French helped them gain sovereignty and the ability to mock the French.

 

[WelshWizard]

It's strange that people think France surrendered during the First World war.

They didn't.

They also won the Hundred Years War, remember. And the Franco-Prussian War. And the Crimean War. As for the Second World War, well, half of France surrendered and the rest was conquered. Not that the Allies on the western Front would have gotten far without the Resistance backing them.

Stereotype and misinformation.

The French lost the Franco-Prussian war. Badly.

All the French did in the hundred years war was restore the status quo.

The allies didn't exactly rely on the resistance; sure, the extra intelligence was handy, but D-Day would have happened with or without the resistance movement.

 

[Ghost8585]

How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris?

No one knows, it's never been tried.

Why are the French planting trees?

Because Germans like to march in the shade.

Seriously though, the Second World War is famous for a number of things, but primarily for the absolute disastrous leadership of the French military during that war, even if they hadn't been subject to blitzkrieg.

How do you know that?

How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris?

No one knows. They've never done it.

*Ba dum tish*

And France didn't surrender during WWI, but they still lost.

How is that cowardly?
Nobody calls the 300 Spartans cowards, they lost, too.

The 300 Spartans weren't French. That is the deciding factor in this, the French suck. Their attidtude sucks, their military sucks. Why does their military suck, because its comprised of FRENCH PEOPLE. They've lost nearly every war they've been in. They didn't suck when a fat, annoying, one armed bandit with a God complex led them though. They do have Napoleon, but he won all the fights- except the one that mattered.

"My question here is in no way meant to cause any sort of offence or to start flame baiting"

Thanks for listening.

My apologies, but the French are my favourite punching bag,

Maybe you should try being original


On Topic: What this all comes down to is the general tendency to look back on the oh-so-great WW2 and Frances history in that war is not so great. Making fun of France is like using a fart joke at a stand-up. It's passable but if you're worth a damn you can do better. And frankly I can't assume the French being more snooty to a foreigner then an American would be dickish to a foreigner.

 

[AWC Viper]

Because America often forgets who had their back during the Revolutionary War.

by your reasoning no one should attack america then. because they had the Taliban's back, Osama's and basically anyone who was fighting the communists

I meant it's ironic how it's mostly Americans making fun of the French, when the French helped them gain sovereignty and the ability to mock the French.

Australia would have lost WW1 and 2 if not for them sending help of 45 NZ soldiers (i really think it was that many) and we rip on them so bad. and because they talk funny.

 

[Berethond]

What did they do in World War 1?
(Surrender)

The history books disagree with you on that one lado

You've been ninja'd like eight times already.

 

[Haliwali]

I hate the whole french-surrender joke thing. It's primarily some butt-hurt americans response to the accusation of being uncultivated etc. I can totally understand the need for a good comeback, but I think the argument totally fails since:

The british/american had quite a bit of water between them and the panzers and dive-bombers of the blitzkrieg.

Did you forget about the bombing in Britain? Beside, the Frenchies didn't even put up a fight when the Nazis rolled into town.

 

[Haliwali]

Because America often forgets who had their back during the Revolutionary War.

by your reasoning no one should attack america then. because they had the Taliban's back, Osama's and basically anyone who was fighting the communists

I meant it's ironic how it's mostly Americans making fun of the French, when the French helped them gain sovereignty and the ability to mock the French.

Yea, if by "Helped us" you mean hopped in at the last days of the war when the victor was all but decided, sat around doing nothing, and hosted the treaty signing.

 

[cainx10a]

I hate the whole french-surrender joke thing. It's primarily some butt-hurt americans response to the accusation of being uncultivated etc. I can totally understand the need for a good comeback, but I think the argument totally fails since:

The british/american had quite a bit of water between them and the panzers and dive-bombers of the blitzkrieg.

Did you forget about the bombing in Britain? Beside, the Frenchies didn't even put up a fight when the Nazis rolled into town.

But they sure did after, the french resistance did put up a good fight.

 

[TheSunshineHobo]

Maybe you should try being original

And I did what to you? To counter: No. I refuse. I like being like everyone else, it makes me feel special. DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!! RAWR!!

 

[AvsJoe]

Making fun of France is like using a fart joke at a stand-up. It's passable but if you're worth a damn you can do better.

Hey, hang on. George Carlin had a wide variety of hilarious fart joke in his hours upon hours of material and he's widely considered to be the greatest comedian of all time (or second greatest behind Pryor).

And frankly I can't assume the French being more snooty to a foreigner then an American would be dickish to a foreigner.

I used to regularly visit America (before the mandatory passport thing) and despite being a foreigner I was treated very nicely during every visit. I've posted in these forums before that I believe that the average American is nicer than the average Canadian. I've never been to France but I can tell you that the average Quebecer fits the stereotype quite nicely.

 

[WelshWizard]

Because America often forgets who had their back during the Revolutionary War.

by your reasoning no one should attack america then. because they had the Taliban's back, Osama's and basically anyone who was fighting the communists

I meant it's ironic how it's mostly Americans making fun of the French, when the French helped them gain sovereignty and the ability to mock the French.

Yea, if by "Helped us" you mean hopped in at the last days of the war when the victor was all but decided, sat around doing nothing, and hosted the treaty signing.

To be fair, the outcome of the American revolution was largely decided by British admiral Thomas Graves sticking to conventional naval tactics, leading to an inconclusive cannonade at Chesapeake bay which allowed the French to keep Cornwallis from being relieved at Yorktown. So, the French had a rather large part to play in gaining sovereignty for the U.S.

Edit: Also, I can't help but laugh at the irony of an American disdainfully scorning another nation for entering a war late.

 

[dazdex]

I'm not sure why the joke started, I guess it started when groundskeeper Willie called them "cheese eating surrender monkeys". But I do know(Because I watch QI) that since 387BC, out of 168 battles fought they have won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. So I'm guessing it's mainly because of WWII and the Simpsons

 

[WelshWizard]

I'm not sure why the joke started, I guess it started when groundskeeper Willie called them "cheese eating surrender monkeys". But I do know(Because I watch QI) that since 387BC, out of 168 battles fought they have won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. So I'm guessing it's mainly because of WWII and the Simpsons

Those sort of statistics are absolutely meaningless; I mean how the hell do you define a battle? And how do you quantify what constitutes a win/loss or draw? I know for a fact that France has been in a hell of a lot more battles than 168 since 387bc.

 

[Spaceman_Spiff]

I'm not sure why the joke started, I guess it started when groundskeeper Willie called them "cheese eating surrender monkeys". But I do know(Because I watch QI) that since 387BC, out of 168 battles fought they have won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. So I'm guessing it's mainly because of WWII and the Simpsons

Those sort of statistics are absolutely meaningless; I mean how the hell do you define a battle? And how do you quantify what constitutes a win/loss or draw? I know for a fact that France has been in a hell of a lot more battles than 168 since 387bc.

I'm pretty sure those statistics were taken from Niall Ferguson's War of the World if you need a reference.

 

[hxcfreak]

Cause they don't have a theme song like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI